Rescue in the Rockies, by C.R. Hedgcock

The latest book in (possibly) my favorite series is out! Hooray! And I got to read it. 🙂

“It’s springtime and the Bakers are living the dream. Abby is helping her grandparents set up a guest ranch, Phil is visiting Spain, and Andy and Tom are on the farm entertaining three visitors from Scotland. Mr. Baker suggests a road trip to the guest ranch in Wyoming. What better opportunity for Fergus, Dougal, and Wylie to work hard, meet cowboys, and see the West? The lads are all for it and embrace their new surroundings with gusto, while the Bakers get the chance to re-forge bonds with Grandpa and Grandma Baker.”

Title: Rescue in the Rockies (Baker Family Adventures Book 8)

Author: C.R. Hedgcock

Genre(s): Christian, Adventure Fiction

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (four stars)

Romance Content: Unmarried male and female characters do touch each other to help or comfort (not sensually) and are alone together. A romantic relationship begins, described in more detail in body of review.

Recommended age range: 10-20 years old

My Review:

Rescue in the Rockies was different from Hunting in the Highlands in that it was set in the United States of America, not in Scotland. This fact made it slightly less fascinating to me, since I live in the U.S. and I’ve read “cowboy” books before. However, I still greatly enjoyed RitR! It had some great lessons, an interesting plot, and some tough decisions for characters. 🙂

Horse lovers would enjoy this book! From riding the fence line looking for breaks to trick riding, this book has horses! Favorite characters from previous book in the series appear, as well as characters we haven’t met before… or who we had met, but didn’t know who they were. 😀 The Bakers have some stressful situations, but continue to look to God, and there was a heart-tugging story of trusting God despite great trials.

Romance surfaces for the first time in the Baker Family Adventures! Despite being a very picky romance reader, I was pleased overall with the way things were carried out. (To make this discussion easier without spoiling the book by naming the characters, I’ll be calling the guy Frank and the girl Sally.) Frank did talk to his mom about the girl, and he also prayed about it and sought the Lord’s direction. I was disappointed that there was no mention of him talking to his dad about Sally, nor asking Sally’s male authority for permission to get to know her. And I was confused at the ending, which I can’t discuss without spoilers. However, I can’t expect everyone to have my same standards, and everything was clean (no kisses, etc). I will be interested in seeing how this aspect plays out in future books.

A character accepts Christ as his personal Saviour in this book, which was a first in the series to my recollection. This was a wonderful event and something I enjoyed reading about. The one thing that I don’t quite agree with is that the character immediately wants to be baptized after salvation. It seems unlikely to me that this particular character would know what baptism is and understand its meaning at that point in the book, and the baptism is performed by someone who is not a pastor (as far as I know) and out of the context of any local church.

Despite these things, there was nothing really inappropriate or evil in this book (not that I expected there to be), and I did enjoy it! I would recommend this book to those who enjoy Christian family-oriented adventuresome fiction… and who have read previous books in the series. (I doubt if it would make as much sense without knowing the background.) This was a great book!